Surviving Every Worldview

Chapter 50: Settlement is complete (1)

I closed my eyes and opened them, and the landscape had changed.

We had just been in a dark room, and now we were outside the Academy.

We were still in our school uniforms, but the surroundings were definitely not the Academy.

The neighborhood was also familiar, being close to my home.

To be precise, we were under the same streetlight that I and the woman had first encountered.

“……gone.”

The woman who had brought us here was nowhere to be seen, only her student ID and card key were lying nearby.

After we were taken out, she was freed from the control of the unwritten rules and began to wander the world again while leaving behind clues to identify her.

I picked them up and recognized the face and name on the student ID.

Yang Yu-ha, B101, the first girl to enter the Academy.

Like Do-Yeon, her hair and eyes were colored by the story.

Now that I know her name, I’m sure I’ll see her again soon.

I have to keep my promise to help.

“Seon-woo, can I talk to you now?”

Oh, right.

“Oh, yeah. It’s okay now. I’m sorry. I didn’t explain it properly……”

Before I could finish, Seorin walked over, spread her fingers, and waved her hand.

“See these?”

“Two. Why?”

“And this one?”

“It’s my middle finger. Do you hate me?”

“That’s weird. It’s normal.”

Seorin was looking at me like I was weird.

What can I do?

Maybe she’s pissed that I’m not drinking yet.

“I’m not drunk, and I’m not your sister.”

“No. I’m just trying to figure out if you’re losing your mind.”

At first, I told myself to listen to the unwritten rules.

I did it because I didn’t know what else to do, but I’m embarrassed that she reacted this way.

“Remember, you don’t have to be so dramatic to suddenly change things.”

“You mean I have to talk into the air like I’m talking to a person? It’s not easy…….”

“What?”

“Huh? Why?”

Talking into thin air like there’s a person there?

I did that?

“Sis, did you…Didn’t you see that person earlier?”

“Who? Do-yeon?”

“Not Do-yeon, the guy who suddenly appeared when the building lights went out!”

“Um, uh……?”

A clueless look.

“Do-yeon. Didn’t you see her?”

“What kind of woman is it again! Who else have you seen besides me?”

……says she didn’t see it.

I didn’t say it was a woman.

Speaking of which, I thought about telling her the details, but I quickly remembered that we were running out of time.

“I’ll tell you later. Let’s go!”

“Yoo Seon-woo is talking!”

“I’ll tell you when I’m done, let’s go!”

I took the lead and ran to where I could see the school.

If the academy students had left for the practical training, they would surely show up at the school.

As I got closer, I heard the sounds of a crowd.

There were students of all colors, and the professor leading them.

It seemed that the ‘ practical training ‘ I was supposed to stop had just begun.

I was a step late but not too late.

We hid in the alley again and recapped the situation.

“……What the hell, it’s already started?”

“I don’t think it has started yet. Be quiet, let me hear what they’re saying.”

I focused on the act of secretly eavesdropping using the power of the story.

The loudness of their chatter was drowned out by the professor’s shout.

“Listen up, everyone, there’s nothing nearby. We’re in the middle of a dead zone. Do you think it makes sense to talk?”

Aside from the caution, there was no tension in the professor’s tone.

Maybe it’s because he knows that he doesn’t have to take it seriously, that he’s just using intimidation to control.

Even if the cognitive filter has changed their perspective there are only ordinary people with no power around.

They may not realize it, but the professor does.

“Our goal is to secure the surrounding area and rendezvous with the team that started at another location. While they establish their base, we’ll protect them from interference.”

“What? We got in trouble. Ah……”

“Shut up! Someone has to do it! Anyway, these days, students are really-”

The professor’s lecture had begun to run longer than planned, thanks to a spoiled student.

Now was my chance.

“I’ll deal with the professor. You two knock out the students first.”

“There must be real people among those students……?”

“That’s why I want you to stun them. You go first!”

I put on my mask, fired off a grappling hook, and moved to the roof of a nearby building.

Meanwhile, Sister Seorin pulled out a bottle of alcohol from her inventory and downed it in one gulp.

“Let’s go…….”

[Beware of trait overdose.]

Her eyes relaxed as she removed her mouth from the bottle, and her body lurched forward.

Soon, students spotted her rushing by in a black scarf and shouted.

“Hey, hey! Someone’s coming! Is it a student……?”

“Get back! It’s a wanted person!”

The professor’s actions were swift.

After calming the students down, he put his hand on the floor, and his entire arm burst into flames and ripped away from his body.

‘What did you do?’

I was momentarily surprised to see the professor become one-armed.

A monster had appeared from out of nowhere, picked up the flaming arm and reattached it to his body.

Humanoid in form, but blurred by its burning body, it was a spirit of the academy world that the professor had summoned.

It clenched into a fist with the arm the professor had given it, wrapping itself around the students.

“Everyone already knows that the wanted men are spies hiding in the Academy! We don’t know how they escaped, but they can’t interfere with us!”

Ah, so we’ve been found out.

If that’s how you did it, we’re grateful.

[Everyone in the Academy remembers you.]

[Your awareness rating is now a B+!]

I like it when the Academy knows me.

I fired a grappling hook at the professor from the rooftop.

Grabbing the professor’s remaining arm, I pulled the trigger again, pulling him towards me.

“What, what! Aaahhhh!”

“Professor!!!”

I threw the dragging professor aside.

The spirits the professor had summoned abandoned the students and protected their summoner.

The professor, who had gotten to his feet, seemed to breathe a sigh of relief at the spirit’s abandonment of his students.

“I thought you were going to protect the students.”

“……With us in the middle of the enemy’s territory, it would be more of a problem if I went down first.”

Don’t get me wrong, his screams were muffled as he was being dragged.

It was all an excuse, and in truth, the use of the body as a medium was the reason the spirit could not get far from its master.

“I have made a mistake. I may be more of a researcher, but I shouldn’t have offered myself as a guide!”

The spirit approached me with momentum, spread its arms toward me, and jerked its hands to hug me tightly.

I ducked low to avoid it, and reached for my baton.

-Poof!

Just then, an explosion erupted from the spirit’s grasp.

Since it was a fire spirit, it could explode its body.

If I was caught, it would be over in an instant.

Grip-

I swung my full-powered suppression rod diagonally at the spirit’s body but the baton sliced through the flames, piercing the spirit’s body.

Once, twice, then three times, I continued to attack the spirit, but my physical attacks had no effect on the fireball.

“Ugh……!”

I pulled my hand out of the fire and stepped back.

The protection of the uniform saved me from burns, but the heat still burned my arm.

Should I use magic against such an enemy?

I don’t use magic.

If I can’t use it, I don’t know. Do-yeon and Seorin also have no connection with classical magic.

Just as they are ignorant of the ‘story’, we cannot always have the means to deal with the capabilities of the Academy but that doesn’t mean we’re helpless.

There’s more than one way to deal with spirits.

I let go of the baton.

As it fell to the ground, it shattered like glass, entering my inventory.

In its place, my hand gripped a dagger I never thought I’d need.

[This is not a weapon with a ‘non-lethal’ tag.]

It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t fit the story.

The spirit’s right arm is the arm of its summoner, the professor.

It’s a weak spot, and if I hit it right, I should be able to do some physical damage.

It’s hard to see the junction hidden by the flames, but my senses, enhanced by two stories, can.

Aiming for the node where the pure fire and human arm joined, I slashed with the colored blade of my dagger.

“Aaaahhhh!”

The professor screamed as he grabbed the severed arm.

The spirit’s form disintegrated as it followed its agonized master, revealing the right arm that had taken the place of the core.

But it was only for a moment before it let out a lone scream.

Chaaaah!!!

The professor squeezed his right arm, and sharp, powerful waves surged around the spirit.

The flames that made up the spirit’s exterior soon disappeared completely, leaving only blue water in its place.

“I wouldn’t have chosen this method if I knew it was a weakness that would be fatal…if it only took one hit.”

Waves lapped at the cramped rooftop.

The professor grabbed the mask that was being swept away by the current of water.

The waves were enough to obscure his vision, but the mask was clearly visible.

“The witch told me to be on guard, but I didn’t need to be. How easy it is to fall for such a show.”

“…….”

“This is the one who caused such a ruckus at the Academy…? He didn’t even put up a fight.”

The mask cracked with a crunch.

Even so, there was no way to resist the professor.

“I think I should get back to the students.”

No wonder I didn’t resist.

The professor didn’t grab me, he grabbed my mask.

[You’re undetectable.]

I reached for the baton again but I didn’t turn it on.

I can’t spill electricity in the waves.

Now the baton is just a very hard stick.

I untied the wire, dropped down, and swung the baton at the professor’s head.

Boom!

It was a sound that shouldn’t have come from a human head.

The self-satisfied professor collapsed with a smile on his face, and the spirit collapsed at the same time.

I don’t have to use magic or nuke a spirit to defeat it.

There’s the classic, tried-and-true method of hitting the summoner.

[Text Thief’s proficiency has increased: +15.0%]

I look down at the rooftops.

The subjugation of the students is complete, and Do-Yeon’s swarm of drones is keeping watch over the captives.

In Seorin’s hand was the remote control she’d gotten yesterday.

She’d thought of a way to use it, but had she really gotten around to it?

I wonder.

If I’d known, I’d have stayed with her.

Well, I’ll see them soon enough.

We’ve got a full day of fighting today.

What I needed to do now was gather information from the frail and pretentious Professor of Summoning lying beside me.